In Frederick Douglass Foundation, Inc. v. District of Columbia, (D DC, Sept. 1, 2021), the D.C. federal district court faced on a motion to dismiss the nearly identical questions that it decided in the case in March when it denied a preliminary injunction to anti-abortion protesters who wished to paint or chalk D.C. streets with the slogan "Black Pre-Born Lives Matter." Now the court dismissed plaintiffs' claims that enforcing ordinances prohibiting the defacing property against them but not against racial-justice protesters violated their free exercise and free speech rights. Discussing plaintiffs' RFRA claim, the court said in part:
Taking as true ... allegations that the individual Plaintiffs hold religious beliefs about abortion that motivate their organizing and other activities, Plaintiffs still do not allege any facts to support the claim that painting or chalking the street is needed to express those beliefs.
Moving to plaintiffs' 1st Amendment free exercise claim, the court said in part:
As with their RFRA claim, the individual Plaintiffs allege only that they “share sincerely held religious beliefs” about the preciousness of life and “engage in pro-life advocacy and witness as part of” those beliefs.... Taken as true, this statement does not establish that the inability to paint or chalk substantially burdened their religious exercise.
